Tottenham Hotspur is "close to a deal" with the FA to play its home games at Wembley in '17-18, according to FA Chair Greg Dyke, while the north London club is also pushing to stage its Champions League ties there next season, according to David Hytner of the London GUARDIAN. Tottenham "will need a temporary home" in '17-18 while the final phase of building work on its new 61,000-capacity ground on the existing White Hart Lane site is completed and the club has "been in talks for months with the FA over using the national stadium." Dyke said, "We’re in discussions with Tottenham that they should come in for a full season when they’re building their new stadium, and we are a long way down the path on reaching agreement." Tottenham will play its "final season at the 36,000-capacity White Hart Lane next time out" and it intends to be in the new £400M ($580M) home for '18-19. The FA could raise around £15M ($21.7M) from staging a Premier League club’s home fixtures (GUARDIAN, 5/5). In London, Tom Sheen reported Chelsea also wants to move into Wembley Stadium while it demolishes and rebuilds Stamford Bridge, but "that would be for a longer period of three years" -- it could also come after Spurs move out. Dyke: "Chelsea have really exciting plans for that stadium -- to demolish the whole thing and build a new one on the existing site. If they came, that would mean coming for three years" (INDEPENDENT, 5/5).
